1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge, a game machine and a bi-directional communication type game system that makes it easy to play a game which requires connecting a plurality of portable game machines to one TV game machine for displaying common images on the TV screen for all to see, and for displaying individual images on the portable game machine display screen for only the individual player to see.
2. Description of the Related Art
TV game machines and portable game machines have each been commercialized, but each machine plays a single game. Bi-directional communication between different machines, such as between a TV game machine and a portable game machine connected to share the same game, have not yet been commercialized. The only exception is playing a match game connecting the same portable game machines to one another using communication cables.
Often, concealing a player's hand is a key to enjoying and implementing strategy in a game, such as is the case of mah-jong. When playing a game with a TV game machine using controllers (without displays), the players commonly see the same TV screen. This results in all players seeing all other players' hands, rendering it impossible to play the game according to the original intent of the game. Therefore, in the current situation, game conditions must be set such that a player cannot see other players' hands, for example, one human player vs. three computer players. This imposes many constraints to enjoyment of the game.
If the above game is played using portable game machines connected with communication cables, a player's hand can be seen only on an individual screen without being seen by the other players since the portable game machine is provided with a liquid crystal display. This overcomes the hand viewing dilemma as a common screen is not available, i.e., a "common field", which all players need to see during the game to inform them of the kind of tiles which are discarded and the number of tiles that still remain in mah-jong, for example.
Generally when playing a game such as mah-jong, one does not know which tile another player will discard, the number of tiles another player will draw, whether the player will reveal tiles or what private strategy a player is forming, merely by looking at the screen. Generally, it is not fair if one player's private strategy is revealed to the other players by viewing the movements of their hands during the game. When two or more players play a game together, if a player looks at the controller of another player, the strategy of the other player is known. In arcade games, a partition curtain is set to partition the display horizontally, so that players cannot see the screens or hand strategies of others. This, however, is far from the spirit of original gaming, because players cannot read the expressions of other players and cannot observe the gestures of other players.
As described above, a bi-directional communication type game system to share a game connecting different models, such as a TV game machine and portable game machine, has not yet been commercialized. When a game as mah-jong, is played, a player's hand cannot be concealed when using a TV game machine, since individual screens do not exist, and the game cannot be played smoothly when using a portable game machine since a common screen does not exist. In both cases, it is impossible to enjoy such a strategy oriented thinking game if other players can see the other players' hands thus revealing their strategy.
Home TV game machines are based on playing games at home. Portable game machines are used in a wide environment, including in homes and outdoors. If both types of machines could be connected to share a game, utilizing the respective advantages of home game machines and portable game machines, the above mentioned type of games could be supported and games would diversify. The present invention was made based on this knowledge.